


Falling Petals

by Riddle_of_the_sphinx



Category: Ib (Video Game), Naruto
Genre: Confused Nara Shikamaru, Crossover, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Language of Flowers, M/M, Monsters, Nara Shikamaru-centric, Nara Shikamaru: Ace Detective, Naruto has an appreciation for the arts, Naruto is Just Naruto, Pre-Chuunin Exams, Riddles, Roses, Shikamaru can't leave a good mystery unsolved, Shikamaru is really going to hate art galleries once this is all over, Sort Of, Uzumaki Naruto is a Good Friend, Uzumaki Naruto-centric, a lot of the things in the gallery are not friendly, knowledge on the Ib game is not needed here, nothing like having to survive in a killer art gallery to bring people together, or language of roses at any rate, some of the things in the art gallery are friendly, the Ib and Naruto crossover that no one asked for, they are the only two that really matter here, you lose all the petals on your flower you die
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-21 20:20:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 19,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22769605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riddle_of_the_sphinx/pseuds/Riddle_of_the_sphinx
Summary: It should have been a simple mission. Just a simple little mission that Team 10 and Team 7 had to complete. All they had to do was be security guards at an art gallery for a day.What bad thing could possibly happen at an art gallery?Well, as Shikamaru soon finds out a lot of bad things can happen in an art gallery. When he finds a strange painting that shouldn't be in the gallery things start going wrong fast. Through a series of rather strange events he ends up being flung into a painting and trapped in a weird, surreal world where the art is alive. What's worse is that he has a rose wrapped around his arm, and attached to that rose is this cryptic warning.When the rose rots, so too will you rot away.You and the rose are unified.Know the weight of your own life.Things seem grim, but he's not alone here. Naruto is trapped in this strange world with him, and if they work together they might just survive and escape from this nightmare with their roses intact...
Relationships: Nara Shikamaru & Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 30
Kudos: 65





	1. Drown in the Abyss

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Whistle_Mist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whistle_Mist/gifts).



_Something bad is going to happen today._

That was the very first thought that ran through Shikamaru’s head that day when he woke up that morning. He wasn’t even sure why he had that thought. All he knew was the fact that he woke up with this strange gut feeling that today would not be a good day. It was strange to think that at all. His morning had been downright pleasant. His mother had to leave early that morning to help with some clan duties so she hadn’t been there to yell at him to wake up nor was she there to nag at him while he ate breakfast. His father had made some grilled mackerel for breakfast today which Shikamaru enjoyed. Mackerel dishes were his favorite and it helped that his father wasn’t a half bad cook either. The weather outside was downright gorgeous. It was warm, but there was a nice refreshing breeze constantly blowing that kept people from getting too hot. The sound of the breeze rustling the leaves washed over Shikamaru as he walked through the village. The blue sky was filled with white puffy clouds that rolled by slowly in the sky. It was perfect cloud watching weather really.

The only thing that dampened the mood was the fact that he had to meet up with his team today to do D-Rank missions so he couldn’t sit around and watch the clouds all day, but he could deal with it as long as they didn’t do any troublesome D-Rank missions. His team had been in a rather good mood today which was good. Ino had been rather cheerful and wasn’t nagging him for being the last to arrive. Chōji was happy and had shared his chips with Shikamaru. They had been the sour cream and onion flavored chips that Shikamaru liked so that had been rather nice. Even Asuma-sensei seemed to be in a good mood as he led his team to the Hokage Tower to pick up their mission. Something about windy days always made the man happy. All in all, it was a pretty great morning. 

Yet, Shikamaru still couldn’t shake his feeling of unease that hung over him like a dark shadow. He puzzled over the feeling the whole way to the Hokage Tower, and he was still puzzling over it when they reached the Mission Room. He only stopped his thinking for a moment when he noticed another team in the room. It was sort of hard to miss them when one of the members of said team wore a bright ‘notice me’ orange outfit. Honestly, Naruto’s whole team in general sort of stuck out like a sore thumb. Sakura had her bright pink hair to make her stick out of a crowd, and the giant Uchiha clan symbol on the back of Sasuke’s shirt practically screamed for attention. Even their sensei seemed to really stick out due to the fact that a majority of his face was covered up either by his mask or a hate-ate. The fact that the man was reading a little orange book that had a rather large 18+ and up label on it also didn’t help matters. The jōnin must have noticed Shikamaru staring at him because he looked up from his book to glance over at the Nara boy. The man’s single visible eye turned up in what Shikamaru could only describe as an eye smile. The Nara frowned at that, but he didn’t look away from the strange man. 

He only moved his gaze away from the masked man when he heard the Hokage say “Ah, Team 10. Are you here to pick up a mission?” 

“Yep,” Asuma said with a slight smile. “We were thinking of getting some D-Rank missions done today.”

The Hokage only smiled upon hearing that.

“Well, you came just at the right time then. I have a mission here that would be perfect for a genin, but it needs two teams to complete. If you don’t mind joining forces with Team 7 I can assign this job to you.”

Asuma glanced over at Kakashi only to have Kakashi nod slightly at him. 

Asuma nodded back before he looked back at the Hokage. “I don’t have any issues working with Kakashi’s team. What is the job?” 

The Hokage silently glanced over at Iruka who happened to be sitting next to the Hokage.

Upon seeing the look Iruka quickly opened up the scroll he was holding and started to read it out loud. “The Guertena Art Gallery is in need for substitute security guards due to most of their regular guards falling ill. The gallery requested at least eight people for the job.” 

_‘The exact number of people that are on two genin teams,’_ Shikamaru thought.

“The mission is a C-Rank mission," Iruka said. 

“C-Rank?” Asuma echoed.

“The mission is in Konoha and nothing bad is expected to happen,” The Hokage explained. “However, Guertena is an artist of some renowned so his artwork is worth a significant amount of money.” 

“A Guertena painting was stolen last year from an art gallery over in the Land of Noodles, so the gallery in our village always want their security force to be on the top of their game so that they won't suffer a similar fate.” Iruka added. “We don’t really expect any major drama, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.” 

Asuma nodded before he glanced over at his students his gaze then drifted over to Team 7. He studied them for a moment before he looked back over at the Hokage. 

“We’ll do it," Asuma said. 

The Hokage nodded and said “Alright, you are expected to go to the art gallery right now, and you are to stay there until eight in the afternoon. You are to check in at the front desk of the art gallery once you arrive to get more info on what you are expected to do on the job.”

Asuma nodded as he looked down at the group of genin gathered around. 

Asuma smiled at them all as he said “Alright kids let’s move out.” 

With the orders given the large group made their way out of the tower and off toward their destination. They were not exactly quiet during their trip. Ino and Sakura both gushed over Sasuke, but that quickly ended up devolving into them calling each other names. The names Billboard Brow and Ino-pig were shouted out the most. The whole time the girls were at each other’s throats Sasuke stayed silent all while wearing a look that made it clear that he wished that he was anywhere else but there. Asuma had given them a few ground rules in between the yelling, but they were not anything major. Mostly just your typical _‘this is a high class place so be on your best behavior’_ , _‘Chōji if you have a bag of chips eat them now because you won’t be able to take them into the art gallery’_ , and other such rules. Upon hearing the chip thing Chōji promptly pulled out the small bag of chips that he had and started chowing down clearly intending to finish the bag off before they got even close to the art gallery.

Strangely, Naruto was actually keeping rather quiet during the whole walk toward the art gallery. He had at first tried to get Sakura’s attention, but the second the pink haired girl got into a name calling match with Ino Naruto had just enough sense to stay out of it. Honestly, out of everyone in the group Shikamaru had thought that Naruto would be the loudest of them all. He expected him to get into an argument with Sasuke, or try and flirt with Sakura. Yet, once Sakura made it clear that her argument with Ino would take up all of her attention he seemed content to fade into the background. He didn’t seem upset per say, but as they walked along Shikamaru could see that the boy was lost in thought. Blue eyes stared up at equally blue skies as Naruto walked along with a thoughtful look on his face. 

_‘Strange,’_ Shikamaru thought.

It was a little strange to see the boy so quiet although that was not necessarily a bad thing. The boy looked rather peaceful as he walked along with his eyes glued to the sky. Instead of wearing an over exaggerated grin or a fake smile like he usually did the boy had a soft smile on his face. It was like at that moment Naruto was content with no real worries. Shikamaru rather liked this relaxed truly happy Naruto compared to the Naruto who wore fake grins. His real smile was a thing of beauty. Of course right when Shikamaru thought that his brain had to question it. 

_‘A thing of beauty? Really? When you describe it like that you make yourself sound like something out of your mother’s sappy romantic poem books.’_

It was a rather sappy thing to think of. It was also a rather strange thing to think of Naruto of all people, but honestly who could blame him for being at least a bit mesmerized by Naruto’s soft smile? Naruto rarely ever let that real smile of his show, so one could forgive Shikamaru for wanting to admire it for as long as it lasted. 

Mercifully, Shikamaru was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Kakashi say “Here we are.” 

Shikamaru looked up at the building only to think it was a bit plain looking. It was a cream colored building that was about two stories tall with a dark blue roof. The jōnin ninja were quick to usher the group into the building before Shikamaru could notice any other details about the building. Upon stepping inside everyone couldn’t stop but just stare at the inside of the building. It was definitely a high class looking place with marble floors and white walls. The few people that they could see that were milling about in the lobby were rather dressed up in their very best suits, dresses, and kimonos. A few people were dressed in more casual clothing, but even then they still looked like they were about to go out on a nice dinner date after they were done here. There were mostly civilians here although Shikamaru was able to spot a few people wearing leaf village hitai-ates lingering around. Still, even though they were not the only ninja there Shikamaru could not help but feel very out of place here. 

“Alright, we need to go to the front desk and check in.” 

Asuma’s words seem to snap the genin out of their own private thoughts as they follow the two Jōnin teachers to the front desk of the art gallery. The man behind the desk gives them a kind smile as they approached. 

“We are the ninja that you hired to act as guards,” Asuma said once the group was in front of the desk. 

The man’s smile grew a bit bigger upon hearing that as he said “Oh, I’m glad to see that you are here! You have no idea how grateful we are to have your help.”

“You need guards that badly old man?” Naruto asked. 

Sakura and Ino shoot the blond a glare at his blatant disregard of sounding the least bit respectful to the man in favor of just straight up calling the man old. The man brushes off the old man comment easily enough with a small chuckle as he says “Yes, there has been a flu going around as of late and as luck would have it good chunk of our security guards came down with the bug overnight. We really can’t afford to postpone the opening of the gallery, so we were in quite a bind.” 

The man gave the group of ninja’s a grateful look as he said “I know our mission is probably not very exciting to a bunch of ninjas such as yourselves, but I really am grateful for the help. Our gallery really needs this showing to go well.”

“Don’t worry old man I’ll be the best security guard that you have ever had!” Naruto chirped out rather loudly. “No one will dare steal a painting with me around!”

Shikamaru couldn’t help but winch at the boy’s rather loud voice. His voice was almost deafening here in the rather quiet art gallery.

“Troublesome,” Shikamaru mutters under his breath. 

This mission was going to be a drag he could already tell. 

Unlike Shikamaru the front desk man seemed to enjoy Naruto’s energy. “With that much enthusiasm I can already tell you will do your best.” 

Naruto was beaming now, and while the high energy was exhausting Shikamaru had to admit that the boy’s genuinely happy grin was nice. It was warm and so joyful you couldn’t help but smile just a bit upon seeing it. Shikamaru could already feel a tiny smile slowly making its way onto his face. 

The joy was short lived as Kakashi snapped his book shut and said “Hokage-sama told us you would brief us on exactly what you wanted us to do.”

The man instantly snapped back into business upon hearing that.

“Yes, of course.” The man pulls a box out from under the desk and places it down in front of the gathered ninja. “First off I would like for you all to put these on.”

A quick glance into the box showed that it is full of black armbands and wireless radio headsets that were not all that different from the headsets that ninja would occasionally wear during missions. Asuma was quick to distribute the items out among the gathered ninja.

“The armbands are to let our guests and staff know who you are part of the security team. As for the headsets it’s the one that our security team uses. I ask that you only use the headsets in an emergency.” The man explains as Asuma passes the items out. 

When Shikamaru gets his armband he quickly notices the word ‘security’ written in rather big bold white letters. On the armbands right above the ‘security’ tag was a rather detailed red rose patch.

“What’s up with the rose?” Sakura asks as she slips the armband on. 

“Ah, Guertena was always rather fond of roses to the point that roses usually appeared in some shape and form in his more famous works. Due to this the rose sort of became his symbol,” The man explained. “It just made sense to use it as the gallery’s symbol due to Guertena being the main star here.” 

_‘Makes sense,’_ Shikamaru thought as he slipped his armband onto his arm. 

Once everyone had their armbands on the man motioned to the stack of pamphlets that were sitting on the desk.

“Go ahead and take a pamphlet. It has a map of the building on it so it will be useful to have on hand.”

Shikamaru was the first to grab a pamphlet. He stared at the large rather intimidating looking Anglerfish that decorated the cover for only a few seconds before he opened the pamphlet and started flipping through it. There was a description of artist whose art pieces were being displayed, but Shikamaru skipped over that in favor of finding the page that had the map on it.

As he studied the map he could hear the receptionist say “We would like it if you just patrolled the halls and just keep an eye on everyone. Having a bunch of ninjas security guards walking the halls should be enough to deter anyone from doing anything illegal. The only real request that we have is that you have one jōnin stay on the first floor while the other stays on the second.” 

“I’ll take the first floor if you take the second?” Kakashi offered as he looked at Asuma.

Asuma nodded. “Fine with me.”

“Great!” The receptionist said with a clap of his hands. “The art gallery closes at eight. You all can leave once we close we don’t need any help closing up.”

Asuma nodded as he turned to look at the genin that were gathered around the two jōnin. “Alright, you heard the man. Kakashi will be patrolling the first floor while I’ll be patrolling the second floor.”

“It will probably be a good idea to have at least one other person stick to one floor,” Kakashi chimed in.

“I can take the first floor,” Chōji offered.

“I don’t mind being assigned the second floor,” Sakura said.

“Alright, Chōji will patrol the first floor with Kakashi while Sakura will be on the second floor with me,” Asuma said. “The rest of you are free to patrol the place however you wish.” 

Kakashi gave the genin a serious look as he said “Try not to get too distracted by art pieces here. While I’m sure they are very interesting we are here for a job.”

A chorus of ‘yes, sir’ filled the room after hearing that.

“If everything goes well I’ll treat everyone to barbecue,” Asuma promised. 

Chōji’s eye lit up upon hearing that while Kakashi shot the man an amused look. 

“I hope you know you are going to be completely broke by the end of this night due to that promise," The gray haired man said.

Asuma just let out a small snort of amusement upon hearing that. “Trust me I have long resigned myself to the fact that my wallet will be completely empty whenever I promise to buy food for everyone.” 

Kakashi chuckled a little, but said nothing more about the subject. He just turned his attention back to the group as he said “Alright, you all know what you have to do.” 

Another chorus of ‘yes, sir’ filled the air as everyone followed the jōnin deeper into the art gallery. Shikamaru stayed behind and watched them go. It was only when the group split into two with one half going up to the second floor while the other half went father on into the first floor did Shikamaru finally let out a soft sigh.

 _‘Well, at least this job should be pretty laid back,’_ The boy thought as he shoved his brochure into his pocket. 

He didn’t think this job would be overly interesting, but honestly he preferred a laid back job to one filled with excitement and fighting. While not overly interested in art the paintings would at least prove to be at least somewhat interesting to look at as he patrolled the halls. The boy let out another soft sigh as he shoved his hands into his pockets and started to walk father into the art gallery. He walked past the stairs that lead up to the second floor without even taking so much as a glance at them. He had already decided that he would check out the first floor first before he went up to the second floor. Upon passing the stairs to the second floor Shikamaru immediately stepped into the largest room in the art gallery. There were paintings lining the walls, but not too many people were paying attention to them. Instead a majority of the people in the room were gathered around the large painting that was lying on the floor. Shikamaru was quick to spot Chōji among the crowd. The boy was staring down at the painting seemingly memorized by the sight.

“Hey Chōji,” Shikamaru called out as he approached the boy.

The boy jumped a little upon hearing someone call his name, but upon spotting Shikamaru the boy smiled. 

“Hey Shikamaru.”

Shikamaru parked himself next to Chōji and looked down at the painting that had captured everyone’s attention. 

“So this is the painting that was on the cover of the brochure,” Shikamaru commented as he stared at the painting. 

“Yeah, the plaque over there said it is called _Abyss of the Deep_ ,” Chōji commented as he stared down at the painting. “It’s a lot bigger then I was expecting.” 

“The brochure definitely don’t prepare you for how big it is,” Shikamaru murmured as he looked down at the painting.

To say that the painting was big would have been a bit of an understatement. It was huge. In fact, Shikamaru was pretty sure it was bigger than his own bedroom. It was also very clear to Shikamaru that this giant art piece had been painted by a master. It really looked like he was staring down into dark murky water. The humongous lure fish that stared up at him from the painting looked like it would start to swim away from view at any second. It was the work of a real master, but Shikamaru had to admit the painting made him feel just a bit uneasy. As ridiculous as it was Shikamaru felt like he could almost fall right into the painting if he got too close to it.

Almost as if Chōji was reading his mind Shikamaru heard Chōji murmur “Feels like you could fall in doesn’t it?”

Shikamaru just nodded in response. He continued to stare down at the painting for a few more minutes, but eventually the sound of crinkling plastic coming from Chōji’s direction drew his attention away from the deep sea painting. He looked over at his friend just in time to see Chōji pop something into his mouth. 

“You didn’t bring a bag of chips in with you did you? Asuma-sensei will flip if he sees you eating chips here.”

“Nah, I just have a bag of candy with me.”

To prove it Chōji pulled out a bag filled with individually wrapped hard candies from his pocket.

“Want some?” 

“Sure,” Shikamaru said as he reached out and took a handful of candy.

He wasn’t really in the mood for candy at the moment, but they were going to be here for a while. As interesting as the paintings were they would probably lose his interest after an hour or so of being stuck here, so having some candy to eat would at least give him something to do as he patrolled the halls. 

As he shoved his handful of candy into his pocket Chōji took a step away from the painting and said “I better get back to patrolling.” 

Shikamaru just gave the boy a wave of farewell before he too stepped away from the painting on the floor. Chōji disappeared down one of the hallways that was connected to the large room while Shikamaru lingered in the room a bit longer. He took a glance at the other paintings that were in the room, but most of them didn’t really catch his attention. A large painting of what looked like a woman scolding a child that was attempting to play the piano caught Shikamaru’s attention for a few minutes, but honestly that was only because the painting made him think of how his own mother would scold him whenever she thought he wasn’t trying hard enough with training. The fact that said painting was titled _A Well-Meaning Hell_ just further cemented that thought. After looking at everything and seeing that no one was acting like they were thinking of prying a painting off of the walls Shikamaru finally left the room to look around the rest of the first floor. 

For the most part there wasn’t anything that really captured his attention as much as _Abyss of the Deep_ did. He just drifted through the halls not bothering to study the paintings that decorated the halls. Shikamaru would allow his gaze to stay on a painting just long enough to get a good look at it, but he would never stop. He examined the people who dotted the hallways with the same amount of boredom. A majority of the people in the building who were enjoying the artwork were regular civilians. There were elderly couples who happily chattered to each other about how some painting reminded them of some old happy memory from the distant past, and parents dragging their children along trying their very best to install some sort of love for the arts into their children. Every once in a while Shikamaru would spot an actual ninja from their village admiring the art, but they were greatly outnumbered by civilians.

Shikamaru kept a close eye on the people walking the halls regardless of what they were. Anyone could be an art thief. Although, honestly it didn’t look like anyone was thinking of ripping a painting off of the walls and trying to make a run for it. Everyone seemed content to just stand back and admire the art, or get into a conversation with their fellow art enthusiasts. It was a little entertaining to hear some people’s theories about what a painting could represent although Shikamaru never stuck around long enough to hear the full explanation. For the most part it was a pretty dull job, but Shikamaru preferred dull over exciting. Shikamaru passed by Kakashi somewhere near the room that held the _Abyss of the Deep_ painting. The man had his little book out and seemed to be paying more attention to it rather than to the things in the art gallery. However, while it looked like he was focusing all of his attention on the book Shikamaru could see the man shooting glances at the people around him and at the art pieces that surrounded him. 

For a brief moment Shikamaru wondered if the book was a cover to make it seem like Kakashi wasn’t paying attention, but Shikamaru couldn’t bring himself to care too much to invest much brainpower into that thought at the moment. Maybe he would ponder that question another day. Eventually Shikamaru reached the last room on the first floor. When he stepped into the room his attention was immediately drawn to the sculpture that was tucked away in the corner of the room. The sculpture was that of a tall blue rose in full bloom. The sculpture was huge. It easily towered over Shikamaru. It had to be at least as tall as Kakashi-sensei. Spread across the floor around the sculpture were giant blue rose petals. The rose was extremely realistic looking to the point that Shikamaru could say without any hesitation that he was highly impressed. 

He couldn’t even imagine how many years it took for someone to become good enough to make such a masterpiece. He clearly wasn’t the only one impressed by the thing. A few other people were gathered around the rose almost looked mesmerized by the thing. Shikamaru could even see Ino standing there in front of the rose a look of wonder on her face. Shikamaru thought of going over to her, but right when he was going to walk over to her he spotted a plaque that obviously belonged to the rose. Shikamaru paused for a moment to read the plaque. 

_Embodiment of Spirit- Beautiful at a glance, but if you get too close, it will induce pain. It can only bloom in wholesome bodies._

The short blurb on the plaque caused Shikamaru to look at the statue again. He hadn’t really noticed it the first time around, but a second look at the rose made him relies that the thorns on its steam were as sharp as a ninja’s kunai. The large blossoming flower sort of distracted from the thorns, but now that Shikamaru had really noticed them he couldn’t really focus on anything else.

 _‘Interesting art piece,’_ He thought as he walked over to Ino.

Ino only spared him a single glance before she turned her attention back onto the rose. 

“Beautiful isn’t it?” She said as Shikamaru took his place next to her.

“It’s interesting,” Shikamaru said. “I like it better than the _Abyss of the Deep_ painting.”

“Same here. I don’t like the _Abyss of the Deep_ very much. I feel uncomfortable just looking at it.” 

The girl didn’t say anything else after that, and Shikamaru didn’t really feel like adding anything else to the conversation. However, just when Shikamaru was about to step away so he could continue his patrol Ino continued speaking. 

“It’s strange…”

“What’s strange?” 

“Why did he chose to make the rose blue?”

Shikamaru just raised a single brow in confusion upon hearing that. “Is there something wrong with blue?” 

The girl only shook her head upon hearing that. “Not necessarily. It’s just that blue roses do not exist in nature. Any blue rose that you see are usually dyed blue.” 

Shikamaru only looked at the girl for a few seconds before he looked back at the blue rose sculpture. Sometimes it was really easy to forget that Ino worked in a flower shop. If anyone would know anything about roses it would be her.

“Do blue roses mean anything real significant?”

“They can be used to symbolize mystery, the impossible, or the unattainable. Sometimes they can be used to mean that you have achieved the impossible, or to tell someone that they are unique. They can also be used to mean secret love.” The girl shrugged a little.

“Maybe the guy had those things in mind when he made it?” The Nara boy suggested. 

“Maybe,” The girl said slowly. “Still, weird that he went with a color that isn’t natural instead of going with something seen in nature like red or something like that.”

Shikamaru just shrugged. It was impossible to know the reasoning behind the artist’s decision. Ino just shook her head as she stepped away from the sculpture.

“I guess it doesn’t matter.” She smiled at her lazy teammate as she said “I need to go back to focusing on work. Don’t get too distracted by the art pieces. We have a job to do after all.” 

“Shouldn’t I be saying that to you? I was the one who found you standing here staring at the sculpture.”

Ino shot the boy a small glare, but the glare lacked any real heat. If anything the look was more playful then anger filled. Shikamaru just smirked at her before he continued on his way. He had patrolled all of the first floor now. He might as well move on to the second floor. It didn’t take him long to get to the stares, and it took him even less time to climb the stairs and reach the top. Upon getting to the top Sasuke brushed past him as he climbed down the steps. The rather annoyed look that the boy had been wearing gave Shikamaru the impression that the boy wasn’t exactly trilled with this mission. Shikamaru could only mentally shrug at that. He didn’t really care if the Uchiha was enjoying the mission or not. 

Letting all thoughts on the irritated Uchiha drop from his mind the Nara glanced around the area only to see Sakura standing next to an art piece that consisted of three headless mannequins wearing the exact same style of dress and shoes. The only way to tell the statues apart was the fact that each dress was a different color. One was wearing red, one was wearing blue, and the last mannequin was wearing yellow. A quick glance at the plaque in front of the three headless statues showed that the art piece was called _Death of the Individual_. Shikamaru didn’t think it was anything worth writing home about, but the man currently talking to Sakura seemed to think differently. He was happily chattering about how he thought the art piece was about how the individual lies in one’s expression or something like that. Sakura was listening to be polite, but it was pretty clear to Shikamaru that she was desperately looking around for an escape route. For one brief second Shikamaru thought of giving the girl an escape route only to quickly brush that thought away. 

_‘Too troublesome,’_ He thought as he walked past her.

Shikamaru walked down the hall without really bothering to look at the paintings or sculptures for longer than a few seconds at most. Nothing up on the second floor really caught is interest like _Abyss of the Deep_ or _Embodiment of Spirit_ had. Eventually after walking for a while he finally ran into Asuma. The man was standing in front of a painting of a woman in a red dress with deep vivid red eyes. Her hair was a dark brown color, but other than that the woman in the painting resembled a certain female jōnin sensei.

“Thinking of Kurenai-sensei?” Shikamaru asked as he approached his teacher.

“I… Well…” The man sputtered out. 

He looked like he was seriously debating not even answering Shikamaru’s question. In the end the man let out a soft sigh and decided to answer the question. 

“Yeah, I saw the painting and couldn’t help but think of her a little bit.”

The man turned his attention back to the painting after saying that. Shikamaru also stared at the painting. The woman in the painting was beautiful, and her serene smile on her face made her look rather peaceful. A lovely enough painting, but honestly if it wasn’t for Asuma’s interest in it Shikamaru probably would have only given the painting a passing glance at most.

“Truthfully, I was just thinking about some of the things Kurenai told me about Guertena. The woman in the painting looks so much like Kurenai it was impossible to not think about her.” 

That comment caused Shikamaru to take another look at the painting. The woman in the painting did look a lot like Kurenai. They had the same ruby red eyes, and the woman in the painting had pretty similar facial features. The dark chestnut colored hair that the woman in the painting had was the only major difference between Kurenai and the lady in the painting. Shikamaru really couldn’t blame his teacher for thinking of Kurenai upon seeing it.

“In fact I think Kurenai said something specific about this painting. If I remember right, I think Kurenai said that there were rumors that this painting was actually based off of one of Guertena’s old lovers.” The man shrugged. “Have no idea how true that is or not, but if it is true then it would make this painting pretty important. Guertena only painted real people once in a blue moon, so any painting of his that is known to be based off of a real person is considered rare and therefore pretty expensive.”

 _‘Interesting bit of info,’_ Shikamaru thought. 

“Kurenai a big fan of Guertena?” 

“She’s a huge fan. She’s been looking forward to this art exhibit opening for weeks now,” Asuma said as he shoved his hands into his pants pocket. “I have been hearing more facts about the guy then I really care to know from her this whole entire week.” 

The man let out a soft chuckle as he shook his head.

“Chances are once Kurenai comes back from her mission with her team I’ll be dragged back here.” The man shrugged a little before he turned away from the painting. “Better get back to patrolling. I have been staring at this painting for too long.” 

Asuma smiles at Shikamaru as he says “Don’t get too distracted by the artwork, alright?”

 _‘Second time I heard that today,’_ Shikamaru thinks. 

He smiles slightly at his teacher as he says “You mean don’t get distracted from the job like you?” 

That comment earned Shikamaru a soft laugh.

“Yeah this is probably one of those do as I say not as I do moments,” Asuma says as he shakes his head.

With that said the man finally departs to backtrack to the stairs. Shikamaru watches him go without comment. Just as Asuma was about to turn the corner and disappear from sight Shikamaru sees the man pull his hands out of his pocket and pick up the pace a little. The Nara boy was quick to notice that something had fallen out of Asuma’s pocket when he did so. By the time the mysterious item hit the ground Asuma was out of sight. Shikamaru hurried over to the item that was lying on the floor only to frown a little when he saw just what it was. 

_‘Asuma’s lighter,’_ Shikamaru thought as he picked up the small silver object.

It was the first time Shikamaru ever held the thing. He had seen Asuma pull the lighter out to light one of his cigarettes during team training plenty of times, but Shikamaru had never been able to really examine the thing. It wasn’t anything special. Just a simple silver colored metal lighter with a few light scratches on the metal. Shikamaru shrugged slightly as he shoved the small lighter into his pocket. Asuma wasn’t around anymore so Shikamaru could not hand it back to him.

 _‘I’ll give it back to him the next time I run into him,’_ Shikamaru thought as he continued walking forward. 

There really wasn’t anything else left to see. If he kept walking forward he would eventually reach a very long hallway that just lead back to the room where the stairs were. If he remembered right the map said there was nothing in that hallway. The only use the hallway had was to act as a shortcut to get back to the stairs in a hurry. For a moment Shikamaru silently debated if he should backtrack like Asuma did in hopes that he could catch up to the man, or if he should just use the shortcut and wait for his sensei to arrive at the stairs. His internal debating was cut short when he noticed a certain blond haired boy pass by. It was a little hard not to notice Naruto walking by. In his bright orange jumpsuit Naruto stuck out like a sore thumb in the snow white halls. Even the most colorful paintings in the art gallery seemed to pale in comparison to Naruto’s garishly colored jumpsuit and his bright dandelion yellow hair.

While Shikamaru was quick to notice Naruto the boy didn’t really seem to notice Shikamaru. No, instead it seemed like the boy’s attention was focused more at the art pieces around him. He walked the halls with an almost memorized look on his face. He didn’t stop in front of any of the paintings for too long, but he would linger at a painting just long enough to read its plaque and get a good look at the painting or statue before moving on to the next. Shikamaru had never seen the boy show so much interest in something outside of being Hokage and ramen.

 _‘Didn’t know he was interested in art,'_ Shikamaru thought as he watched the boy walk by.

Naruto had never shown any real interest in professional art before. _‘Then again he did use the Hokage monument as his own personal over sized sketchbook. Maybe that should have been my first clue that he has at least a bit of interest in art even if all he used it for was pranking.’_

His doodles on the mountain had never been noteworthy, but there had been one day back when they were ten when Naruto had covered the mountain in drawings of sunflowers. That was probably the one and only day that Shikamaru had actually bothered to really look at what Naruto drew for longer than a minute. The flowers had been rather detailed, and in the early morning light the yellow petals painted onto the stone had seemed to glow. It was a bit of a shame that Naruto had only drawn the flowers once because Naruto had a real talent when it came to drawing. At least he had a talent in drawing flowers at any rate. Shikamaru let his thoughts about Naruto’s drawing skills drift away when he saw Naruto disappeared down the path that would bring him through the shortcut. Shikamaru stared off into the direction that Naruto had gone down before he mentally shrugged and followed the path that Naruto had taken. At this point Shikamaru had stood around long enough that he would have a better chance of meeting up with Asuma at the staircase rather than trying to catch up with him by backtracking.

Upon reaching the shortcut hallway Shikamaru was surprised to see that there was absolutely no one around. There were no visitors walking through the hall at all. Shikamaru couldn’t even see Naruto anywhere which was really strange. Shikamaru may have not been following right behind Naruto, but he was close enough that Naruto should have still been in the hallway by the time Shikamaru arrived. The only way Naruto could have possibly gotten out of the hallway was if he started running with all his might the second he stepped into the hall. It was a little strange, but Shikamaru was able to explain it away by remembering that he was dealing with Naruto here. There was a very real possibility that upon seeing that the hall was empty Naruto picked up the pace to get through the hallway. Shikamaru didn’t think of Naruto for long. Any thoughts about the blond boy were forgotten when Shikamaru saw the giant painting that was hanging on the wall of the hallway.

 _‘This shouldn’t be here,’_ The dark eyed boy thought as he faced the painting. 

Shikamaru pulled the brochure out of his pocket and glanced at the map. On the map the location of every painting and statue had been marked. There was an art piece in almost every room and hall, but the map made it very clear that the hallway shortcut was supposed to be empty. There wasn’t supposed to be anything here. Yet, the painting on the wall showed that the map was wrong. 

_‘Was the painting a last minute addition to the gallery?’_ Shikamaru mentally wondered as he shoved the brochure back into his pocket.

It was possible, or at least it wasn’t an impossibility. As Shikamaru stared at the painting he couldn’t help but think that the painting didn’t really fit in with the rest of the artwork that was in the gallery. Shikamaru had noticed that in general Guertena’s artwork was either extremely realistic looking, or rather abstract in nature. However, regardless of what sort of work it was every single one of Guertena’s work were made with a clear idea in mind. It was clear that careful thought was put into each brushstroke.

Meanwhile the painting in front of him right now looked like it had been made with haste like whoever had created the thing was in a rush to get it done as fast as possible. The canvas was absolutely covered in dark colors like black, or a deep dark muddy brown color. Occasionally Shikamaru would see a deep dark blue color or a deep green color, but they were only a few shades away from being pitch black. Placed almost sporadically among the mess of dark colors were a few vibrant colors that were actually shaped like things. A bright red rose bud could be seen in the top left corner of the painting. A bright yellow crescent moon stood out on its pitch black background while a cartoonish looking face painted in blood red paint grinned down at Shikamaru from its spot near the drawn moon. In the right hand corner there was a hastily painted replica of the red eyed woman painting although this copy of the red eyed woman had no facial features. Her face had been left blank with no eyes or mouth. Only the red dress had been recreated with complete accuracy. 

There was no rhyme or reason behind why the objects had even been painted onto the canvas. It was like they had been painted onto the canvas without any real thought at all. Underneath the frame of the strange painting was a simple white plaque card with the paintings name printed onto it. Unlike some of the other paintings there was no explanation or description to go along with the painting. The only thing on that white card was only the painting’s name. 

“Fabricated World?” Shikamaru read out loud. 

The second the name of the painting left his lips the lights of the art gallery started to flicker. They flickered on and off for about a solid minute before the lights finally decided to give up the ghost and die for good. 

“Great,” Shikamaru muttered as he stared up at the dead lights. “Just great.”

It probably could have been worse. Thanks to the windows that lined the hall Shikamaru hadn’t been left in total darkness.

Shikamaru sighed as he turned on his wireless radio headset and asked “Asuma-sensei what are your orders?” 

Shikamaru received no reply. All he heard coming from the small headset was static. The boy frowned a bit at that. That wasn’t good. Power outage or not the headsets should not have been affected. The fact that he wasn’t getting any answers was a very bad sign. Shikamaru quickly started running down the hall and over to the stairs. Chances were pretty high that some of his team would gather around the front desk either to receive orders or just to figure out what was going on. Even if they were not there the receptionist at the front desk might have a few answers for Shikamaru as to what was going on. Upon reaching the room with the staircase Shikamaru was quick to notice that there was no one in the room. He couldn’t even hear any voices. The room was dead silent. 

“Not good,” Shikamaru muttered. 

Even if the art gallery was being evacuated Shikamaru should have been able to see some people making their way downstairs. The second floor was huge, and there had been plenty of people on the second floor. It had only taken a minute or two at most for Shikamaru to get to the stairs. He should have seen groups of people trying to make their way down the steps, but there wasn’t anyone around. That was a bad sign. Shikamaru raced over to the steps, but before he could even set foot on the first step he heard a loud sound behind him. 

**BANG! BANG! BANG!**

In a matter of seconds Shikamaru had a kunai in hand has he whipped around to see just where the noise had come from. There was still no one around. The only thing that Shikamaru could see was an imprint of a hand left behind on a nearby fogged up window. Looking at the window seemed to set off a chain reaction in the art gallery because he started to hear what sounded like a cat loudly yowling nearby the second he saw the hand print on the window.

**Meow!**

Shikamaru looks toward the noise only to see a painting that looks like it is a close up view of a black cat’s face. When Shikamaru looks at the painting the cat in the painting blinks. It’s bright yellow eyes roamed around the room before it finally lets its eyes land on Shikamaru. Again the sound of a cat echoes through the hall, and this time Shikamaru can tell that the sound is coming from the painting. 

**Meow!**

“Genjutsu. I have to be trapped in a genjutsu.” 

That is all the Nara can think as stares that the blinking cat picture. He doesn’t even think of how or when he got trapped in a genjutsu. He just brings his kunai up and makes a small cut across the top of his hand. He doesn’t even blink as he makes the cut. Blood slowly starts to fall from the small wound, but other than the fact that Shikamaru is now dripping blood onto the marble floor nothing changes. The cat painting is still blinking slowly. Shikamaru can see the cat slowly tilt its head to the side in curiosity as it stares at him. The cat’s wide yellow eyes watch in silence as his blood slowly drips to the floor. The kunai is quickly shoved back into his weapon pouch as he makes the hand signs needed for the Genjutsu Kai. 

“Kai!” Shikamaru calls out as he performs the move. Again nothing changed. Shikamaru can feel a cold chill slowly wash over him as the cold hard truth makes itself very apparent.

He was not under a genjutsu.

Shikamaru quickly turns away from the cat painting and scrambles down the stairs. In the distance he can hear the cat painting let out a loud displeased cry at his sudden departure, but the boy can’t bring himself to care too much about that. He had to get out of here. He had to get out of here right now. Upon reaching the first floor the young man quickly raced off to the art gallery’s entrance. When he got there he was met with an empty room. The receptionist wasn’t there. His team was not waiting there for him there, and no confused or terrified gallery visitors were waiting in the lobby. He was alone. Shikamaru’s footsteps echoed around him as he ran to the front door. The glass of the door was so fogged up that he couldn’t even see what was going on outside. 

_‘That is probably a bad sign,’_ A voice murmurs in his head, but he ignores it in favor of trying to open the door. 

He pulls at the handle of the door, but the door refuses to budge. Giving up on trying to open it the Nara tries to break the glass, but the glass doesn’t break. The dark eyed boy lets out a loud sound of frustration as he quickly pulls an exploding tag out of his weapon pouch. It would only create a small explosion, but it should do the trick. Just when the black haired boy was about to stick the tag onto the door something happened. Words written in bright red paint slowly appeared on the glass. It looked like someone was slowly and carefully writing a message onto the glass because it wasn’t a very speedy process. It also looked like the paint was on his side of the door which should have been impossible because there was no one there to write the message. The only person in the room was him. Eventually the words stopped appearing on the glass of the door and Shikamaru was left with a short message written just for him. 

_Go to the Abyss Shikamaru. I’ll show you someplace secret…._

Shikamaru doesn’t even think. He just slaps the tag onto the door and backs up to a safe distance. The tag goes off without a hitch, but when the smoke clears Shikamaru is dismayed to see that nothing had changed. The door was still perfectly intact. The glass didn’t even have a scratch on it. The red message on the door hadn’t even disappeared.

 _Go to the Abyss Shikamaru._

As far as Shikamaru knew there was only one painting in the art gallery that had the word abyss in its title. 

“This feels like a trap,” Shikamaru muttered to himself.

Right after saying that Shikamaru couldn’t help but mentally scratch out the word ‘feels’ from that sentence. This didn’t just feel like a trap. This **was** a trap. Yet, what could the boy do? He wasn’t getting out through the front door, and he figured the windows would also prove to be unbreakable. His shadow jutsu was of no use here, and he didn’t have anything on him that would allow him to pick the lock. All he could do was go to the ‘Abyss’ like he was ordered. He already knew exactly what the Abyss was too. It had to be talking about the _Abyss of the Deep_ painting. It was the only thing in the art gallery that had the word abyss in its name. 

Shikamaru sighed as he turned away from the door. There was nothing he could do but go to the painting. It didn’t take him long to get to Abyss of the Deep, and upon getting there Shikamaru couldn’t really spot anything different at first. It was only when he approached the Abyss of the Deep painting did he notice that one of the rope dividers that had been set up to keep people from getting too close to the painting had been removed. Shikamaru slowly approaches the painting and looks down. Nothing had changed about it. The fish was still there staring up at him and the painted water looked as murky as it did before. However, that strange feeling of unease that the painting had given him earlier was much stronger now. There was no message waiting for the Nara there at the painting. No one was standing there to offer any information for him. All that was there was the painting.

“Well, I’m here.” The boy mumbled to himself as he knelt down by the painting. “Now what?” 

For as much as the painting made him feel uncomfortable there was also a slight urge to just reach out and touch it.

 _‘Probably not a good idea,’_ He thought. 

He had no idea what would happen if he touched the painting and he sure as hell wasn’t going to touch it to find out. For a moment Shikamaru debated if he should shove one of the rope dividers into the painting to see if anything would happen, but that thought left his head when he suddenly heard the laughter of what sounded like a young girl echo through the room. Shikamaru looked up only to freeze when he saw a humongous message drawn in dark blue paint on the wall across from him.

_Fall into the Abyss Shikamaru._

Shikamaru looked back down at the Abyss painting only to see that the fish was gone. The boy didn’t get any time to question it. The second he noticed that the fish was no longer there was the second that he felt someone shove him from behind. Shikamaru fell into the painting with a splash and he started sinking like a stone.

 _‘Cold,’_ A voice in his mind screamed. _‘So cold!’_

Shikamaru could barely register anything else. He couldn’t think about the fact that he just fell into a painting nor could he even begin to process the fact that he had been shoved into the painting. All he could think about was the ice cold water and the fact that it felt like it was sucking all of the warmth right out of him. Shikamaru tried to move his limbs, but they refused to budge. He couldn’t even move his head to look up or down. All he could do was stare straight ahead as the ice cold water sapped away his warmth and strength. Strangely when he opened his mouth he found that he could breathe without any issue, but honestly that didn’t matter. As he sank deeper and deeper he could feel his consciousness start to fade away. It felt like he was drifting off to sleep, but for once that feeling was not a pleasant one. He tried to fight the feeling off although it proved to be a worthless effort. He could not escape the grip of sleep. As the darkness overtook him and Shikamaru slipped into the arms of unconsciousness one thought quickly flashed through his head.

_'Huh, turns out my gut feeling was right about something bad happening today…'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here is my attempt at writing a Naruto/Ib crossover. If you don't know much about Ib at all that is just fine. You don't really have to know much about Ib to read this story.
> 
> Embodiment of Spirit: I know that in the game the Embodiment of Spirit rose statue is red, but I made it blue here for reasons that will become clear as the story goes on.


	2. Games and riddles

When Shikamaru woke up he quickly became aware of the fact that his whole entire body ached. It felt like he had just been hit head on by Chōji’s Human Bullet Tank technique. Every single inch of his body hurt with an ache that he could feel to his very bones. He wanted nothing more than to just curl up into a ball and fall back asleep, but he couldn’t do that. For as much as his body hurt his mind was unable to really focus on it. It was way too busy remembering how he got there. He remembered the lights in the art gallery shutting off, he remembered the paintings coming to life, and he remembered seeing the message on the wall seconds before he was pushed into the Abyss of the Deep painting.

 _Fall into the Abyss Shikamaru…_

The memory of falling deeper and deeper into the ice cold waters caused Shikamaru to let out in involuntary shiver. That had not been a pleasant experience at all. The only saving grace that he had right now was the fact that he no longer felt cold. He was also not soaking wet like he had been expecting. In fact, it felt like he was lying on top of something soft. Although, the texture of whatever he was lying on was a little weird.

It almost felt like… _‘Flower petals?’_

Shikamaru slowly opened his eyes only to be met with the sight of his own reflection. Across the room from him was giant mirror that took up the whole wall. In the mirror he could see himself, and he seemed to be lying on top of a blue bed that was absolutely covered in purple rose petals. Shikamaru was lying on a thick layer of rose petals which explained the strange texture he was feeling. He had been feeling the rose petals that he was lying on. The huge amount of rose petals covering the bed was pretty strange all on its own, but it wasn’t the strangest thing that Shikamaru could see right now. No, the strangest thing that Shikamaru could see was the fact that in his reflection he could see a blooming purple rose wrapped tightly around his left arm. 

Shikamaru moved his head to look at his left arm and sure enough right there was a bright emerald green vine wrapped around his arm and attached to that vine was a rose with vivid purple petals. This strange rose was wrapped around the place where his security armband had previously been. The armband was long gone now though. For whatever reason it had been replaced by this strange rose. Without even really thinking Shikamaru reached up with his right hand and brushed his fingers over the perfect purple petals of the rose. The second his fingers touched the petals a shiver traveled down Shikamaru’s spine. The flower petals felt normal, but when he touched the petals a weird sensation washed over him. Upon touching the flower, the feeling that someone was touching him washed over the Nara. It was downright bizarre to feel that. Nothing was touching him, but just touching the flower made him feel like someone was brushing their fingers over his skin. 

Shikamaru quickly withdrew his fingers and when he did so the feeling that someone was touching him went away. Shikamaru didn’t know what that was about, but it sure as hell wasn’t normal. Then again normality had been chucked right out the window the second the lights in the art gallery shut off. Shikamaru slowly sat up all while trying to ignore how much his body ached in protest at the movement. Upon getting up the boy glanced around him. The room wasn’t very large. There wasn’t much in it either. Other than the bed covered in purple rose petals that he was currently sitting on there really wasn’t anything else in the room. There was the large mirror in front of him, but the walls to his left and right were lined with paintings of blooming blue roses. Why blue roses instead of purple ones Shikamaru didn’t understand, but for now he wasn’t going to question it. Behind him there was a single dark blue colored door. Taped onto the wall next to the door was a small sign, and written underneath that sign in red paint was a simple message. 

_No jutsu allowed in the art gallery. All visitors must wear a chakra seal during their visit._

Upon reading that Shikamaru immediately tried to access his chakra only to find that he couldn’t. It wasn’t like it was gone he could still feel it, but it felt like it was tied down. He immediately started checking his body to see if he could find the seal that the message mentioned. It didn’t take him long to find the seal that had been printed onto his skin. Upon lifting his shirt up, he had spotted the seal. It was right there on his chest clear as day. The seal drawn onto his skin looked a bit like chains wrapped around his chest. There had also been a few symbols painted along his chest with the chain images although Shikamaru couldn’t make heads or tails of it. He knew almost nothing about seals. Other than going over the very bare bones basics of seals the Academy didn’t really touch on the subject. There were not very many seal experts in his family either, so it wasn’t like there were many people around that he could learn it from. Of course even if there were a lot of them hanging around Shikamaru probably wouldn’t have went out of his way to talk to them about seals. Seals were never something that Shikamaru took a great interest in.

“Troublesome,” Shikamaru muttered as he let his mesh shirt fall back over his stomach. 

There wasn’t anything he could do about it for now. All he could do was try to escape from this messed up place and once he was out someone in the village that was good with seals could get rid of it. The boy tried his best to push his worries about the seal to the side as he looked at the sign. 

_When the rose rots, so too will you rot away._

_You and the rose are unified._

_Know the weight of your own life._

Shikamaru’s gaze slowly fell down to the rose that was wrapped around his arm. Nothing on that poster sounded good. It made it pretty clear that the rose was connected to him. The strange feeling that he got just by touching it made it very clear that the poster was not lying. It sounded like if the rose was destroyed he would die. That was worrying. As far as he could tell the rose was just a normal rose. It wouldn’t take much to destroy its petals. What the heck would even happen if a petal got ripped off? Would he get an injury from it? Would it cause internal damage? There was really no way to know until it happened. 

_‘Not something that I am willing to test out,'_ He thought.

He really hoped he would never find out what would happen, but it was not like hoping would do much to prevent it. Chances were high that he would probably find out regardless of if he wanted to or not. Upon thinking that a piece of advice that he heard frequently back home flashed in his head.

_Hope for the best prepare for the worst._

That was a bit of advice his father had given him once. It had served him well so far, so he might as well keep it in mind while he was stuck here. He would hope that everything would turn out well, but the Nara boy was already mentally prepared for everything to just get worse with every passing second. Shikamaru sighed as he looked away from the poster. There was nothing else in the room worth looking at. There was nothing to interact with either. Staying here would not help him get any answers as to just what the hell was going on. The only thing he could do now was to go through the door. 

Shikamaru let out a soft sigh before he got off the bed and walked over to the door to open it. Luckily, the door opened without any problems. Upon stepping out the door he was immediately in a large room with pitch black walls and black granite floors. The lighting was rather dim, but not to the point that Shikamaru couldn’t see anything. It was just dark enough to make Shikamaru feel uncomfortable. There was a set of stairs going down right across the room from the door. A quick glance around the room showed that it was empty. There were no signs tapped onto the wall, no paintings hanging on the wall, and no strange messages drawn onto the wall for Shikamaru to read. There was nothing but the staircase. 

With nowhere else to go Shikamaru slowly headed down the staircase. As he walked down the steps he kept waiting for something to happen like for messages to show up on the wall, or for the lights to just go completely dark. Yet, none of that happened. The trip down the stairs was completely silent and uneventful. Honestly, the fact that nothing was happening just put Shikamaru more on edge. Upon reaching the bottom Shikamaru was met with a pitch black door. On the door was a small painting of what seemed to be a woman scolding a boy sitting at a piano. Below the picture was a plaque with a question written on it.

_What is the name of this painting?_

Shikamaru actually did recognize the painting. It had been in the same room as the _Abyss of the Deep_ painting. At the time Shikamaru had been slightly amused by the painting due to how it made him think of his mother. That was probably the only reason why the painting still stuck in his memory. 

_‘There isn’t anywhere to write the name down at,’_ Shikamaru thought. _‘Am I supposed to just say it out loud?’_

“A Well-Meaning Hell?” Shikamaru said out loud. 

That seemed to be the right thing to do because the loud clicking sound of a door unlocking suddenly echoed around him. Shikamaru reached out and tried opening the door. It opened without any problems.

 _‘Well, that was easy,'_ He thought. 

It was a bit too easy really, but Shikamaru wasn’t going to question it. Shikamaru could enjoy a good brainteaser, but in this situation he would rather everything be simple and easy to figure out.

 _‘Of course there is a chance that things will get more and more difficult the deeper I get in this place,’_ He thought as he stepped through the door into the next room.

Shikamaru was quick to shove that thought away. He would cross the bridge if and when he got to it. For now, stressing out about how things might get harder would do him no good. Upon stepping into the next room he couldn’t help but frown a bit. The color of this room was different. Instead of pitch black floors and walls everything in hear was a rather bright orange color. Even with the dim lighting the orange color was almost too bright, but honestly Shikamaru would take this over no color at all. Strangely, the scent of ramen was very strong in this room.

 _‘With the scent of ramen hanging in the air and all the orange everywhere I can’t help but think of Naruto.’_ He couldn't help but think.

He glanced around the hall only to see that it wasn’t very long. The wall right in front of him was lined with paintings and each end of the hall had a bright orange door.

 _‘Alright, which door should I go through?’_

Shikamaru didn’t get long to ponder that question. Before he could even take a step forward he heard a gentle woman’s voice call out to him.

“Ah, the child of the lavender rose is here.”

Shikamaru looked around, but he couldn’t see anyone there. He was alone.

“Over here child.”

He looked straight ahead of him when he heard that voice call out to him. Right in front of him was a medium sized painting. In the painting all that could be seen was the close up of a red curtain like one you would see on a stage. A pale hand was poking out from curtains and the hand made a ‘come here’ motion toward Shikamaru. After the madness at the art gallery he was somewhat used to paintings moving and talking. That didn’t mean that it didn’t weird him out it just meant that he was better at not outwardly reacting. Shikamaru took a few steps toward the painting, but he made sure there was a good bit of distance between him and it. The last thing he wanted was for the hand to reach out and grab him. He glanced down at the plaque underneath the painting only to see the painting’s title written there.

_Concealed Secret_

The painting didn’t seem to mind that Shikamaru wasn’t getting very close to it. Its voice is soft and gentle as it speaks. 

“It’s been a few years since we had outsiders come to our gallery. It has been even longer since we had someone come to this part of the gallery.” 

Seeing a chance at getting some answers Shikamaru asked “What exactly is this place?”

“This place does not exactly have a name,” The painting answered. “Some call it the Fabricated World. A few outsiders who have a less then pleasant time here call this place the Cursed Gallery.”

“Fabricated World. That was the name of a painting in the Guertena Art Gallery. Does this world exist in that painting?” He asked. 

Shikamaru really wasn’t sure how he would react if she said it was. He had never heard of a person getting sealed up into a painting and ending up in a strange world. Getting sealed in a sealing scroll? Sure, whatever. There were records of that. Sealing up people and bodies was a recorded thing that can and has happened. But a painting? A painting that had another gallery in it where the paintings were alive and the well being of a rose was connected to your own well being? That was something else altogether. It was unheard of and while Shikamaru knew he didn’t know everything in the ninja world he was sure that if something like this had been encountered before he was sure he would have heard of it in an Academy lesson. At the very least someone would have mentioned it. Something like this was too weird to not come up somehow in conversation either as a rumor or as a lesson taught by some teacher. 

The Nara was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the painting say “The Fabricated World is more of a portal into this world. Only those with wholesome bodies can use the painting to enter this world.”

“And what qualifies someone has having a ‘wholesome body’?” He asked.

The painting did not reply. 

_‘Alright,_ ’ Shikamaru thought. _‘So apparently this painting won’t answer all of my questions. Annoying, but at least I am getting some answers here.’_

Letting the question drop for now the brown eyed boy asked “Why has it been so long since someone has come to this part of the gallery?”

“This is the oldest part of the gallery. It was the very first part of the gallery to be created. Although, through the years the gallery has grown bigger and bigger. These days whenever a rose child comes here they show up in the newer parts of the gallery.” 

“Rose child?” The question left Shikamaru’s lips before he could even stop it. 

“All outsiders who come here are tied to a rose. You have the purple rose because it is what best represents you.”

Upon hearing that Shikamaru couldn’t help but glance down at the purple rose. What did purple roses symbolize anyway? He had no idea. Flower symbolism was a subject that only kunoichi in training ever learned about. They learned about the language of flowers while being taught how to do flower arranging. Sometimes Ino would babble on about what some flowers meant, but honestly whenever she chattered on about flowers Shikamaru would just let that information enter one ear and go out the other. If she ever talked about purple roses Shikamaru didn’t pay enough attention to her talking to remember it. The boy couldn’t help but silently curse himself out a bit for not paying attention to her flower talks. 

Shikamaru shook it off as he asked “Did Guertena make this place?”

“Yes, although it has been altered by a few of the artworks here.”

“How did he make this place?”

The painting let out a soft sigh and said “I do not know. That is a secret that eludes even me. It is the one secret Guertena never shared.” 

That answer wasn’t exactly unexpected. He had asked in some vain hope that maybe she would tell him, but considering the fact that she didn’t answer the wholesome body question he was more than prepared to get no reply at all to that question. At least he knew that this was something made by Guertena and not an enemy ninja. Although, with that said the fact that the artist made such a place was a bit disturbing. Why would an artist make such a strange place?

“If it helps any there are a few books that Guertena wrote scattered around the gallery. Maybe one of those books will hold the answer you seek.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Shikamaru said. 

There was no grantee that he would find an answer in those books, but if the books could at least give him info that he could use to survive or escape from this place then it would be worth it to find those books.

“You said that other outsiders came here. What happened to them?” 

“They went back to their world.”

OK, so that meant it was possible to escape from this place. That was reassuring. 

“How did they leave?” 

The painting did not answer. Shikamaru scowled at this, but did his best to brush away his annoyance.

“Why am I here? I didn’t choose to come here.”

“You were called here.”

“By who, or by what?” He asked. 

Shikamaru wasn’t even surprised when the painting did not answer. 

He let out a soft sigh before he said “Alright, last question. You said that people don’t usually end up in this old section of this gallery, so why did I end up in this part of the gallery?” 

“Who knows? Maybe there is something you need to do here. Maybe this part of the gallery resonated best with your soul and pulled you here? No one can say.” 

That was a rather strange way of saying _‘I don’t have a clue’_. 

Shikamaru honestly would have preferred silence. The Nara figured that was all that the painting was going to say, so he was rather surprised when the painting continued to speak. 

“I do know that you are not the only one to end up here in this part of the gallery.” 

Shikamaru feels the blood in his veins freeze upon hearing that. “Who else is here?” 

“Ah, that is not a secret I can reveal easily,” The painting says in a joyful tone. “How about we play a game to find that answer?” 

Her soft tone was replaced by one of pure excitement now and that puts Shikamaru slightly on edge.

“What sort of game?” 

“In this hallway are paintings that are tied to the friends who came with you into the Guertena Art Gallery. Each one has a symbol that represents your friend. Bring me the symbol that is attached to the person that is here in the art gallery and you win.” “And how am I supposed to figure that out?” 

“The answer to that question should have become clear to you the second you entered this room. If you still don’t know look around this room again. You will find your answer.” 

“And if I do win? Then what?” He asked.

“I’ll give you the key to where your friend rests,” The painting said as it motioned toward the left. 

Looking left just caused Shikamaru to see the door that was there at the end of the hall. The brown eyed boy understood exactly what the painting was saying by doing that. His friend, whoever that might be, was behind that door. 

“What happens if I don’t win?”

“If you don’t win your friend will just have to free themselves.” 

Shikamaru didn’t like the sound of that. He was about to turn away from the painting to start looking for this symbol that he had to bring, but before he did he asked the talking painting one more question. 

“Is this friend of mine the only other person in this gallery?”

“Your friend is the only other person in this part of the gallery,” The painting answered. 

Shikamaru was quick to notice that the painting only said that they were the only people in this part of the gallery. That choice of phrasing could mean that there were people in other parts of the gallery. It could also mean that the painting really didn’t know if there were people outside of the old part of the gallery. There was really no telling what the painting meant. If the painting was being this evasive about it Shikamaru thought that it was probably safe to assume that it would not elaborate if Shikamaru asked it to.

“Troublesome,” Shikamaru said as he turned away from the painting and started to work at the task at hand.

The wall was lined with paintings that were a bit smaller then _Concealed Secret_. As far as Shikamaru could see all of the paintings were in identical black frames that were devoid of any markings. There were no plaques under the paintings either so it looked like Shikamaru would have to go off of the paintings themselves to figure out who they were tied to. The first painting that he identified had been rather easy. It was a close up of a sakura tree in full bloom. The branches swayed slightly in a breeze that existed only in the painting’s world. 

_‘That has to be Sakura.’_

The painting next the cherry blossom painting was also quickly identified. There was no missing the Uchiha clan symbol that was painted onto the fan that the woman in the painting was holding. The woman’s inky black hair and charcoal black eyes also clearly showed off her Uchiha features. The next painting proved to be a bit harder to pin to a person, but not by much. In the painting a small white boar charm was sitting on a shelf. The charm had purple flowers painted onto it in loving detail. It took a bit of staring at the painting to figure out just who it was supposed to represent, but staring at the boar brought forth a memory from earlier this morning of Ino and Sakura’s squabbling. Just thinking of that memory caused the girls' voices to echo in his head.

_“Ino-pig!”_

_“Billboard Brow!”_

Shikamaru couldn’t help but crack a small smile upon thinking of the fight. Who knew that such a stupid argument would actually end up being useful to him? There was also a tiny bit of amusement at the thought that Ino would be less than thrilled at the idea that a boar charm was being used to represent her. Luckily, she wasn’t there to complain about it. The next painting barely took any time to figure out. The painting was of a bright blue butterfly resting on a road covered in red, orange, and yellow autumn leaves.

 _‘Chōji,’_ Shikamaru thought.

Some of the kanji that made up Chōji’s name were the kanji for butterfly. Also, Chōji’s last name meant autumn road. Keeping those two things in mind made figuring this painting out a no brainer. The last painting on the wall was also a no brainer. The painting was a close up of a bowl of ramen, and sitting on top of the noodles was a single fishcake that shared a name with a certain loudmouthed blond.

 _‘Naruto,’_ Shikamaru thought. 

He could see steam escaping from the painting which explained the smell of ramen that was drifting in the air. Naruto’s painting was the last one on the wall. There was no painting in the room that referenced Kakashi or Asuma. 

_‘Neither of the adults are here in this section.’_

That was not news that Shikamaru was happy to figure out. If anyone could have the slightest idea about how this place worked or how it was made it would be them. He was on his own when it came to figuring this place out, and he doubted any of his teammates or the members of Team 7 would have any idea on how this strange place functioned. Still, at least he wouldn’t be alone here all on his own. 

_‘Small comfort,’_ Shikamaru thought. _‘Although, before I can reunite with anyone I have to figure out just who is here with me.’_

That was a bit hard to do. Figuring out who the paintings were supposed to represent was easy. Trying to figure out which painting he actually needed was a whole other problem. None of the paintings gave any indication that they were the right one. A quick glance around the room showed that there were no messages written on the wall or a mark on the floor that pointed out one of the paintings. There were just orange floors and walls and the scent of ramen in the air. He was missing something. He closed his eyes and leaned up against the wall behind him as he tried to think. What was it that the talking painting had said? 

_The answer to that question should have become clear to you the second you entered this room._

_‘How is it clear? The only thing in this room is the color orange and the scent of ram-‘_ Shikamaru thought only to immediately cut the thought off when the answer smacked him over the head. 

Orange and ramen.

There was only one person that he could connect to those two things.

“Naruto,” Shikamaru muttered to himself. 

Naruto had been the very first thing he thought of when he stepped into the room. He had the answer to the game the second he entered the room and he didn’t even know it. Shikamaru pushed himself off of the wall and made his way toward the ramen painting. Once he was standing in front of it he hesitated for only a moment before he reached out toward the ramen ingredient. Upon touching it he was only somewhat surprised that it felt like the real thing. His surprise grew when he was able to pull the thing right out of the frame. He just stood there standing in the middle of the hall holding the fishcake that was dripping with ramen broth. It was real. It was a real honest to God fishcake that he just yanked out of a painting. It was weird. It was very weird. 

_‘By the time I finally get out of this place I’m sure nothing will be able to surprise me anymore.’_ The boy thought as he approached the talking painting with the fishcake in hand. 

He silently offered the ramen ingredient to the talking painting only to have the painting reach out and take the cake from him. Shikamaru shivered slightly when the feeling of warm fingers brushed up against his hand as the painting took the food item from him. The hand looked painted. The hand was painted, and yet it felt like a real human hand. Shikamaru didn’t comment on it as he watched the hands withdraw behind the red curtain in the painting. The hands stayed out of sight for a few seconds before they finally reappeared only this time one of the hands was holding a silver key. The hand held the key out toward Shikamaru. The Nara boy slowly took the key before he glanced down at it. The key was rather lavishly decorated. The bow of the key was shaped like a rose, and it had been painted to look like a blue rose. The stem of the key had thorn vine design carved into it. 

_‘A blue rose…’_ He thought slowly.

A memory of the Embodiment of Spirit sculpture back in the regular gallery flashed in his head. He could also remember what Ino had said that blue roses represented. 

_They can be used to symbolize mystery, the impossible, or the unattainable. Sometimes they can be used to mean that you have achieved the impossible, or to tell someone that they are unique. They can also be used to mean secret love._

For one brief second Shikamaru wondered why a blue rose design was used for the key, but he got an answer when the talking painting say “That key will unlock the door that will to the child of the blue rose.”

_‘So Naruto has a blue rose, huh?’_ He thought. 

It wasn’t exactly a rose that he would expect Naruto to have. Then again Naruto was a rather unique individual. Shikamaru could say with ease that he had never met someone like Naruto. No one ever pulled elaborate pranks like Naruto did. No one was as obsessed with ramen as Naruto was. No one could wear such blindingly bright orange clothes and yet still avoid detection from high ranking ninjas. No one had bright sunflower yellow hair like him, and no one had such bright expressive cornflower blue eyes. Naruto stuck out like the little ball of sunshine that he was. With that in mind maybe it wasn’t surprising that he had gotten the blue rose. Heck, even the ‘achieving the impossible’ bit fit him pretty well. The boy had failed the Academy Exams so many times that people were starting to say that it was impossible for him to become a ninja. Yet, Naruto had done the impossible and passed. Not only that but he passed the secret genin test too which was something very few Academy graduates were able to do.

_‘Maybe the blue rose is perfect for him after all,’_ He thought. 

Shaking that thought away the boy turned his attention back to the task at hand. He had a blond to find. Shikamaru glanced over at the door to the left.

He tightened his grip slightly on the key as he muttered out a quick “Thanks.”

He took a few steps toward the door only to pause when he heard the talking painting call out “Wait a moment. There is one more thing that I should tell you.” 

Shikamaru glanced back at the painting just in time for him to hear it say “Some of the artworks in the gallery are friendly, or at the very least are harmless. However, some are hostile and want nothing more than to tear your roses apart. Be very careful as you walk the halls child of the lavender rose.” 

Shikamaru tightened his grip slightly on the key, but he didn’t let the paintings words affect him too much. He was a ninja. He was being trained to deal with dangers. He might just be a genin, but at least knew how to look out for himself. Although, the brown eyed boy didn’t dare let his status as a ninja make him think for one second that he was completely prepared for everything that was in this art gallery. There was no telling what could happen in this strange place, and his chakra was sealed. The only thing he had to rely on here were his own wits and whatever he could get his hands on here.

“Thanks for the heads up,” Shikamaru said softly. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

The painting said nothing more and Shikamaru turned his attention back to the door that was down the hall. He took in a deep breath and kept walking forward. He couldn’t let any warnings of danger worry him now. He had a blond haired knucklehead to save… 

\-----------------------------------------------

When Shikamaru stepped into the room that held Naruto inside it he couldn’t help but immediately freeze for a moment. Upon stepping into the room he immediately spotted Naruto. Naruto was right there at the other end of the room. A thin sheet of clear glass was the only thing keeping the boys separated. 

“Naruto!” Shikamaru called out as he ran toward the glass. 

Upon reaching the glass Shikamaru could see that the boy was just lying there on a small purple bed that didn’t have any sheets or pillows. Instead the bed was covered in blue rose petals. The walls on Naruto’s side of the room were lined with paintings of lavender colored roses much like how the room Shikamaru woke up in had blue rose paintings on its wall. Shikamaru could even see a poster on the wall that had the same ‘when the rose rots’ message taped onto the wall along with a small note card with the ‘no jutsu’ rule written in big bold letters. Honestly, other than the reversal of colors Naruto’s side of the room looked almost like an exact copy of the room that Shikamaru had woken up in. When Shikamaru looked at Naruto he could see a bright blue rose wrapped tightly around his arm, and the Nara boy felt some relief that the rose was in full bloom and didn’t seem to be missing any petals.

“Naruto!” Shikamaru called out to him. 

Naruto did not reply. He didn’t even so much as twitch at the call of his name. It was disturbing really. Shikamaru had never seen Naruto so still before. If it wasn’t for the fact that Shikamaru could see that he was indeed still breathing the Nara would honestly think the boy was dead. 

“Ah, the boy of the lavender rose has finally arrived!” 

Upon hearing a man’s voice say that out loud Shikamaru quickly spun around to try and find the source of the voice. He was quick to find it. There was only one painting on the wall on Shikamaru’s side of the room. The boy reluctantly left his spot by the glass wall to slowly approach the painting. The painting was rather simple. It was of a young man in his early twenties with brown hair and blue eyes. The man was wearing a pair of glasses, a bright green suit, and a bright green bowler hat. He was holding a gold cane that had a question mark of all things decorating the top of the cane. A quick glance at the plaque sitting below the painting only showed the painting’s title.

_The Riddler_

Shikamaru looked up from the plaque to stare at the man in the painting. The man smiled at him although it was not a kind smile. No, this smile was a mocking smile. It was clear to Shikamaru that this painting didn’t think much of him. 

“Tell me boy do you like riddles?” The painting asked. 

"I don't mind a good riddle," Shikamaru says slowly. 

Shikamaru wasn’t lying. He liked a good riddle well enough, and he found some entertainment out of solving riddles. Although, with that said even if he didn’t like riddles Shikamaru wouldn’t dare mention that to this painting. Somehow telling this painting that seemed like it would be a very bad idea. 

The painting’s mocking smile never vanished as he said "Well, it is good that you like riddles. I hope for the sake of the owner of the blue rose you are good at them." 

Shikamaru tensed slightly upon hearing that. Shikamaru shoots the painting a harsh glare as he asks "What do you mean by that?"

The painting does not answer that question at first. Instead it says "We will be playing a little game. I will ask you five riddles, and you will answer them. If you can answer all five riddles correctly the glass wall will come down, and you can safely claim your prize. The boy of the blue rose."

"And if I get a riddle wrong?" 

The painting’s mocking smile quickly took on a more sinister tone as he said "If you get even one riddle wrong the boy will stay in eternal slumber, and he will never leave this gallery."

Shikamaru's eyes widen slightly upon hearing that, but he is given no time to truly process what he heard. The painting pointed at him with his cane and shouted out his first challenge.

"Riddle me this!"

The words echoed around the room as the painting gave him a cruel smile.

“I can bring tears to your eyes; resurrect the dead, make you smile, and reverse time. I form in an instant but I last a life time. What am I?”

Right when the painting finished asking its riddle Shikamaru honestly expected it add another rule to the game like there being a time limit, or maybe an enemy would pop up out of nowhere and Shikamaru would be expected to fight it while he tried to figure out the riddle. Yet, much to Shikamaru’s relief the painting did not add any additional rules. He glanced over at Naruto only to see that nothing had changed on his side of the room. The boy was still in a deep slumber completely unaware of the fact that his fate was being decided with a game of riddles. A quick glance at the painting just showed that man dressed in green was staring at Shikamaru in silence. A twisted grin was on the painted man’s face. That grin served to both irritate Shikamaru and creep him out all at the same time. 

The brown eyed boy tried his best to ignore it as he thought about the riddle. It wasn’t a jutsu, or at least as far as Shikamaru knew it wasn’t a jutsu. There was no jutsu that he knew of that could do all of that at once. A kekkei genkai was also tossed out the window for similar reasons. Maybe one could argue that a Sharingan could copy any jutsu that could do such a thing. Having someone with a Sharingan on your side would make you smile, and that having such a thing used against you could make you cry but honestly Shikamaru was pretty sure that the riddle didn’t need such a complicated answer. No, he was pretty sure that whatever the answer was it had to be much simpler. He was also sure that it was something that applied to everyone. The Nara boy thought for a moment before an answer finally hit him. 

“A memory.”

“Explain,” The painting demanded all while keeping its irritating smile in place. 

Shikamaru noticed that it gave no indication as to if he had answered the riddle correctly or not. Most likely if Shikamaru got this wrong it would mock Shikamaru for the wrong answer, and how his explanation was stupid. Something about the painting just made it clear to Shikamaru that it would find great joy in mocking him as it took his friend away from him forever. 

Shikamaru stared at the painting as he said “Happy memories can make you smile. Sad memories or memories of loved ones who are no longer with you can make you cry. Remembering the past is a way to reverse time in a sense, and your memories of the departed when they were alive and well can be away to ‘resurrect’ the dead.”

Upon hearing that explanation the painting just silently glanced over at Naruto. Shikamaru’s hands curled up into fists and he could feel his nails digging into his skin. He was right. He knew he was right. There was no other possible answer. 

Yet, a tiny negative voice in his head whispered _‘Are you sure? Are you really sure that there is no other possible answer? If you are wrong, then you will have killed Naruto. His death will be all your fault.’_

While his mind was starting to second-guess itself he didn’t dare let his uncertainty show on his face. He wouldn’t give the painting the satisfaction of seeing him worry. Eventually the man painting nodded in acceptance and said “Correct.” 

Shikamaru could feel some of his tension drain away, but he didn’t completely relax. He had only answered one question right. He still had four more to go.

“It’s a question you can ask all day long and get completely different but correct answers. What is the question?”

“What time is it?” The Nara said without a moment’s hesitation.

That riddle had been much easier than the first. 

“Rather quick to answer that one,” The painting grumbled. “Well, luckily for you that is the correct answer. Obviously I need to ask more difficult riddles.” 

Shikamaru said nothing. He just stared at the painting as he waited for the next riddle. 

“Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?” The painting asked.

“Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.” Shikamaru answered without even missing a beat.

The desire to smirk briefly washed over the Nara, but he was quick to shove that desire away. So far the painting had asked questions that he could answer rather easily. That was good, but Shikamaru knew better then to act all high and mighty over the fact that he was clearing the riddles with ease. Irritating the painting could cause it to deiced to ask truly difficult riddles. Naruto’s life was on the line here so he couldn’t afford to be asked really difficult riddles. The man in the painting twirled his cane around as he stared at Shikamaru. No snarky comment was said this time. The man just stared at Shikamaru with a look that seemed to imply that the painting was starting to reevaluate his opinion of Shikamaru. Did the painting think Shikamaru was going to be a simple fool that couldn’t figure out a few riddles? Apparently it did if the very sour expression on the painting’s face was anything to go by.

“Moving on to the forth riddle then,” The painting said as it scowled at Shikamaru. “Every night I'm told what to do, and each morning I do what I'm told. But I still don't escape your scold. What am I?” 

Shikamaru thought for a moment. This thing was something that he told what to do each night, but it was something that he would yell at for doing its job every morning. There was only one thing that came to mind that could fit that description.

“An alarm clock.” Shikamaru answered. 

The painting let out a disappointed sigh as he said “Correct. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that you got that one right. You aren’t as clueless as you look.” 

Shikamaru let that insult pass him by without comment. The painting stared at him for a moment before it said “Last question. If you get it right you will get your dear blue rose.” 

The painting smiled at Shikamaru and said the last riddle. 

“I am not alive, but I grow; I don't have lungs, but I need air; I don't have a mouth, but water kills me. What am I?”

Amazingly Shikamaru had heard this riddle before. It was a riddle he had been asked once a long time ago by his mother when he was a child. She had been asking him riddles as he helped her cook to pass the time. Helping with the cooking was not a job that the boy had wanted to do. The child had wanted nothing more than to take a nap, but the promise of fun brainteasers was enough to keep the lazy four-year-old there to help with the cooking. Little four-year-old Shikamaru was able to figure out most of the riddles with ease, but one riddle that his mother asked he had a bit of difficulty figuring out. No matter how he thought about it the child could not figure out an answer. When his mother saw him struggling she had just smiled and gave him a rather large hint to help him along.

_What is the will of our village named after Shikamaru?_

“Fire,” Shikamaru said confidently as his as his shoulders slumped in relief.

That was the last riddle, and he knew that he had gotten it right. If the painting was true to his word that would mean that Naruto would wake up and be free to come with him. The painting glared at Shikamaru for a few minutes, and for one brief panic inducing minute Shikamaru thought that the painting would not hold up his end of the bargain. However, after a few minutes had passed by the painting let out a loud exaggerated sigh. 

“You are smarter than most of the drooling idiots who inhabit this Art Gallery,” The painting said. “I must commend you for actually using your brain unlike some brainless morons.” 

The painting raised up his free hand and snapped his fingers. The second he did that the glass that was keeping Shikamaru and Naruto separated vanished. It was like the glass had never been there.

“A deal is a deal,” The painting said. “You have won your dear blue rose and are free to take him away.” 

Shikamaru glanced at the painting for a moment trying to figure out if the painting really would stay true to his word. Shikamaru honestly wouldn’t put it past the strange painting to go back on the deal. However, the painting made no move to take back what it said. It just stood there and stared at Shikamaru with a faint smirk on its face. Shikamaru scowled at the painting, but said nothing as he raced over to Naruto’s side. The second he reached the sleeping blond he started to shake his shoulder.

“Naruto,” Shikamaru hissed as he shook the boy. “Naruto wake up!"

The boy grumbled as he sleepily shoved Shikamaru’s hand away and rolled over so that he was lying on his side.

“Five more minutes,” The blond grumbled as he tried to fall asleep.

“Get up idiot!” Shikamaru said a bit louder. “This isn’t the time or place to be taking a nap!” 

Not words that Shikamaru thought he would ever say, but this place was already tossing Shikamaru into situations that he couldn’t even dream of. Naruto cracked his eyes open and scowled slightly as he stared at Shikamaru. However, after a few seconds had passed by something must have connected in the boy’s head because he suddenly sat up at lightning speed.

“Shikamaru?” The boy said slowly. “Where are we? Why do you have a rose wrapped around your arm? Wh-“ 

Shikamaru quickly slapped his hand over the boy’s mouth before he could continue with his long string of questions.

“Not here,” The boy hissed out softly. “I’ll answer all of your questions, but not in this room.” 

The boy looked confused as to just why Shikamaru could not answer his question here and now, but he nodded anyway. Satisfied that Naruto would keep quiet for now he moved his hand and said “Follow me. Once we are out of this room I’ll share what I know.”

The boy nodded again as he slowly slid off the bed. Shikamaru grabbed the boy’s arm and started to drag him to the door that would take them out of the room. Naruto frowned a bit at this, but made no comment as Shikamaru pulled him along. 

As they walked past The Riddler the painting smirked at them and said “Goodbye children of the blue and purple rose. Do be careful on your journey through the Art Gallery. Not all of the paintings are as friendly as me.”

The comment was said in a mostly mocking tone, but Shikamaru figured that it was also an honest warning. That honestly made him nervous for the future. The Riddler had already threatened him with Naruto’s safety if he failed his little riddle game. If that was considered friendly he really wasn’t looking forward to what the worst monster in this place was like. The fact that this was his second warning that he heard and he hadn’t even been in this place for longer than half an hour didn’t bold well either. Naruto’s mouth dropped in shock when he saw the painting talk, but when it looked like Naruto was about to say something Shikamaru picked up the pace and pulled Naruto out of the room and into the hall that the Concealed Secret painting was in. He slammed the door close behind them and leaned back against the wood as he let out a small sigh of relief. He was happy to no longer be in the same room as The Riddler. However, being out of that room meant that Naruto was no longer going to stay silent. 

“What the hell is going on?!” Naruto shouted. “How did the painting talk? Where are we? Where is everyone else? Why do you have a rose wrapped around your arm? Why do I have a rose wrapped around my arm?” 

As he talked about the rose around his arm Naruto reached up to touch the rose wrapped around his arm. The second his fingers made contact with the petals he quickly yanked his hand away as if the rose had shocked him. 

“Yeah, I wouldn’t suggest touching the rose. It gives you a weird feeling when you do.”

Naruto only blinked a few times as if unsure of what to say. He just stared at Shikamaru as he waited for him to make things clear for him. Shikamaru felt bad over the fact that he didn’t really have any answers for Naruto. Shikamaru sighed as he slowly slid down so that he was sitting on the floor. 

“Take a seat,” Shikamaru said. “This might take a while.”

Naruto hesitated for a moment before he finally sat down in front of Shikamaru. 

“What is the last thing you remember?” Shikamaru asked. 

The blond thought for a moment and then said “I was on the second floor of the Art gallery patrolling when I went down this one hallway that only had this weird painting in it.”

“Was it a large painting with a whole bunch of random things like a yellow crescent moon and a red rose?”

“Yeah, that was the painting!” Naruto shouted out.

“What happened when you saw the painting?”

“The lights started to flicker, and then they just died. I tried contacting Kakashi-sensei with my headset, but it didn’t work. I started exploring the halls but everyone was gone! I couldn’t find Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan, or Sasuke!” The boy frowned as he crossed his arms. “I eventually ended up in the room with the giant fish painting on the floor. The rope guards were all gone and when I approached the painting it looked like the water was moving. It was weird.”

“And then?” 

“I thought I heard giggling and next thing I know I feel someone shove me into the fish painting.” The boy shivered slightly as he recalled the memory. “It was so cold. I couldn’t swim back to the surface. I couldn’t even move at all. All I could do was just sink to the bottom.” 

Shikamaru had to suppress a shiver of his own upon hearing Naruto’s description of the event. It was exactly like what Shikamaru had dealt with when he had been pushed into the painting. It wasn’t a fond memory by any stretch of the imagination, and Shikamaru didn’t like being reminded of it.

“Next thing I know you were waking me up.”

“Troublesome,” Shikamaru muttered. “That matches up with what happened to me.”

Shikamaru started explaining everything that happened to him up to the moment he woke Naruto up. He told the boy about everything. He told him about how he had also been shoved into the Abyss of the Deep painting. He told him how he had to solve riddles just to free Naruto. He had also told Naruto about how the roses were tied to their very lives. 

“So what? If the rose loses all of its petals we die?” Naruto asked.

“Seems like it,” Shikamaru confirmed.

Naruto paled a little upon hearing that. Shikamaru couldn’t blame him. Flowers were such fragile things, and a quick count showed that both his and Naruto’s flowers only had ten petals. It would be oh so easy for the petals to be ripped away in record time. 

“And if you hadn’t won that riddle contest then I would be dead right now?” 

“Assuming that strange Riddler painting wasn’t lying then yes. If I had lost that little riddle game of his then you would be gone.”

Somehow Naruto looked even worse after hearing that.

“We can’t use jutsu here because they have been sealed,” Shikamaru said as he sighed. “I don’t know much about seals, and I doubt you do either.” 

Naruto just shook his head to confirm that he also had no clue when it comes to seals.

“Well, since neither you nor I know how to get rid of seals we are stuck with them. Until we escape from this madhouse we won't be able to use jutsu," Shikamaru said as he let out a soft sigh. 

“Do we at least have our weapons?” Naruto asked. 

Shikamaru blinked a few times upon hearing that question. It was actually a good question. The last time Shikamaru had checked his weapon pouch was when he pulled out and explosive tag to use on a door, and that had not been effective. He had been so overwhelmed by the whole strange situation that he hadn’t thought to check to see if he still had any of his weapons on him. 

_‘Some genius you are,’_ Shikamaru thought to himself as he started to check his weapon pouches. 

Somehow he wasn’t surprised to see that they were empty. There were no kunai or explosive tags. There wasn’t even a single shuriken left behind. All his weapons were gone.

Naruto was apparently in the same boat because Shikamaru heard the boy yell out “Oh, come on! All of my weapons are gone!” 

Shikamaru started patting down every single pocket that he had. Did this strange gallery take everything that he had on him? The answer to that ended up being no because he found the handful of candy that Chōji had given him a while back. As he dug through the sweets in his pocket he also ended up finding something buried underneath all of the candy. His hands connected with something metal and when he pulled the metal object out he saw that it was Asuma’s lighter.

“A lighter?” Naruto said with a bit of confusion when he saw the object in Shikamaru’s hand. 

“Asuma-sensei’s lighter. He dropped it in the hall in the normal art gallery. I picked it up to give it back to him, but I ended up in this place before I was able to.” 

As Shikamaru shoved the lighter back into his pocket he heard Naruto say “Great, so the only thing we have is a lighter.”

“Pretty much,” Shikamaru said.

Naruto crossed his arms as he asked “Where the hell even is this place? How the hack was it made? Why are we here and no one else?”

“I have no idea,” Shikamaru said with a sigh, and he hated the fact that he had no real answers for Naruto. “All I know is that Guertena made this place, and apparently only people with wholesome bodies can enter this place.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Naruto asked.

“I have no idea,” Shikamaru said as he shrugged his shoulders. 

The blond frowned at the answer, but didn’t linger on his displeasure at that lack of an answer. 

“What about the roses? Is there some jutsu or something that could actually connect our lifespan to the things?” The boy asked. 

“I don’t know,” Shikamaru said as he gritted his teeth together in frustration. 

He hated this. He hated having no answers to what the hell was going on. He hated that there was nothing he could do about the seals on their skin keeping them from using their chakra. He hated the fact that he couldn’t even give any guesses as to what was happening to them right now.

_I don’t know._

That was the only answer he had to anything. All he had were a few cryptic answers from a freaking painting of all things, and there was no real way to know if what the painting told him was true or a bunch of lies. There was no jōnin sensei to turn to for answers. There was no more experienced person to fall back on to take the lead. It was just him and Naruto stuck in this crazy place. If he was anyone else, he probably would have given in a long time ago and mother of all freak outs about this a long time ago. However, he knew freaking out would accomplish nothing. Sitting here asking questions that neither one of them could answer would accomplish nothing either. 

The boy sighed and looked Naruto in the eye as he said “The only thing I know for sure is that we can escape from this place, and that hanging around here isn’t going to get us any answers. All we can do is move forward and try to get out of here as quickly as we can. We can question what the deal with this place is after we are back home.”

Naruto stared into his eyes for a few seconds before he nodded.

“Alright,” The blond said. “Lead the way.”

For a split second Shikamaru was surprised that Naruto didn’t try to take charge or just go charging full steam ahead with his usual determination. Then again looking at Naruto the expression on his face made it clear that he was just as uneasy as Shikamaru was at this whole situation. Maybe it wasn’t a surprise that Naruto was letting him lead due to the fact that out of the two of them Shikamaru had a tiny bit more knowledge about how this place worked. Whatever the case was it was clear that he trusted Shikamaru to lead them. Somehow having that trust felt more comforting then daunting. It was a little nice to know that Naruto apparently had enough faith in him to follow his lead here.

“Alright,” Shikamaru said as he stood up.

He helped haul Naruto up onto his feet, and once they were both standing they walked toward the only door that Shikamaru had yet to open. As they walked they passed by the _Concealed Secret_ painting, but Shikamaru noticed that the hand was gone. It was only a painting of an empty stage with the curtains drawn shut. It worried him a bit that the hand was gone, but he didn’t dare let himself dwell on it. He had other things to worry about at the moment. When they reached the door that they needed to open Shikamaru paused for a moment. He took in a deep breath to steel his nervous before he reached out and turned the knob. The knob turned without any issue, and without a single thought Shikamaru opened the door and stepped into the next room. As he moved into the next room only a single thought went through his head.

_‘I hope this next room won’t have any deadly puzzles or riddle games in it.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go Mist. I got that Riddler reference in there for you. 
> 
> Anyway….
> 
> No jutsu: Lets be real here if jutsu was allowed I don’t think the gallery would be half as threatening. Hard to be terrified of a painting if you can wash it away with a water jutsu, or smash it to pieces with an earth jutsu attack or something like that. 
> 
> With that said I don’t plan on Shikamaru and Naruto to run from every encounter with the hostile elements of the gallery. Some of them they will fight back with whatever they are able to get their hands on. They are ninja still. Genin ninja, but still ninja. 
> 
> Also, Naruto is the number one knucklehead ninja. He’s going to be a bit more off the wall sometimes.
> 
> Purple Roses: Purple roses tend to symbolize enchantment, mystery, majesty, glory, pride, magic, and long lasting love. 
> 
> Rose wise Shikamaru is pretty hard to pin down, but purple worked enough for me. It also helps that purple roses are tied pretty closely with blue roses.


End file.
